{"id":51959,"date":"2021-02-02T18:38:51","date_gmt":"2021-02-02T18:38:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/marinecorpstimes\/uncategorized\/2021\/02\/02\/this-is-why-so-few-troops-have-gotten-the-covid-19-vaccine\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T10:26:26","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T10:26:26","slug":"this-is-why-so-few-troops-have-gotten-the-covid-19-vaccine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/marinecorpstimes\/news\/coronavirus\/2021\/02\/02\/this-is-why-so-few-troops-have-gotten-the-covid-19-vaccine\/","title":{"rendered":"This is why so few troops have gotten the COVID-19 vaccine"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

According to the latest Centers for Disease Control and Prevention tallies<\/a>, the Defense Department has distributed more than 800,000 doses of the novel coronavirus vaccine<\/a>, but has only put about 60 percent of those \u201cshots in arms,\u201d<\/a> as the tagline goes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are several reasons for this lag, Air Force Brig. Gen. Paul Friedrichs told Military Times on Thursday, most of them similar to reports out of every corner of the country<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat we\u2019re seeing right now is similar to what we\u2019re seeing across the entire United States, in that there\u2019s … a higher percentage of people who are older who are opting to have the vaccine, and it trends down with age,\u201d Friedrichs said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In total, 816,175 doses have gone out, with 485,125 administered to DoD personnel. Of those, 67,913 are now fully vaccinated after their second dose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Pentagon has refused to provide details on how many troops have been vaccinated, though DoD posts its confirmed COVID-19 cases <\/a>broken down by service member, dependent, civilian and contractor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This policy comes from the Pentagon\u2019s general counsel, who has determined that the Defense Health Agency won\u2019t report to DoD the affiliation details of who has taken the vaccine, a defense official told Military Times on Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DoD began shipping out doses in mid-December, starting with 16 bases that had enough personnel and cold-storage capacity to effectively use up those doses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those bases are farther along in the process, Friedrichs said, but DoD is not experiencing some of the uneven administration of doses that has been reported in civilian public health departments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the past month, stories of vaccine serendipity<\/a> have popped up throughout the country, where people were in the right place at the right time and had the chance to receive a leftover dose that otherwise would have to have been thrown away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

State and local health departments have been in charge of their own administration schemes, and in some cases, haven\u2019t had clear guidance on whom to call up if they made it to the end of the priority list and hadn\u2019t used up a vial.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur loss rate has been negligible,\u201d Friedrichs said. \u201cWe certainly have not lost any vaccines because they\u2019re sitting on the shelf.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\t